Holidays & planning

Christmas Planner 2026

Gifts, holiday budget, meals and to-dos in one Excel file. You type in your budget, the people on your list and what you buy; the file works out what you've spent, what's left and what to buy for each meal.

File in EnglishNo macrosExcel · Google Sheets9 linked sheets

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Summary: budget, spent and money left by category, with a chart (Example data) — Summary: budget, spent and money left by category, with a chart · Example data · Enlarge image

Real screenshots of the file

Images of the file with example data. Tap an image to enlarge it.

A gift budget for every person, with status (Example data) — A gift budget for every person, with status

Gift tracker from idea to given, with late-delivery alerts (Example data) — Gift tracker from idea to given, with late-delivery alerts

Menu & shopping: quantity needed, what to buy and cost per person (Example data) — Menu & shopping: quantity needed, what to buy and cost per person

To-do calendar to early January, with days left (Example data) — To-do calendar to early January, with days left

What's inside

Linked sheets, with instructions on the first sheet.

InstructionsHow to fill in the file, step by step.

SummaryChristmas countdown, budget, spent, money left by category and rows to check.

SettingsYear, total budget, split by category and an optional holiday bonus.

PeopleGift budget for each person, spent and left.

GiftsIdea, shop, planned and paid price, status and delivery date.

Holiday expensesAll other holiday spending, by category.

Menu & shoppingGuests per meal, quantity per person, what to buy and estimated cost.

CalendarTo-dos from November to early January, with Black Friday worked out for each year.

Cards & greetingsCards, messages and parcels to send.

Demo data

A worked example

In the example the holiday budget is 1,000 and gifts and expenses are already logged.

Example data in the file, there to overwrite. Amounts have no currency symbol: use $, £, € or any currency.

Christmas Planner 2026
Total budget	1,000.00
Spent so far	623.98
Still available	376.02
Budget used	62.4%
Estimated cost of holiday meals	320.30

Getting started

Open Instructions, then Settings: set the year and your total budget.
In People, list who you're buying for and how much for each.
Log gifts and spending as you go: the Summary updates by itself.
For each meal, enter the guests and quantity per person: the file works out what to buy.

Compatibility and limits

Compatibility

Plain .xlsx file, no macros, standard functions only.
Tested by full recalculation in Excel for Microsoft 365.
Calculations also checked in Google Sheets (upload the file to Google Drive).
Not tested in Apple Numbers or Excel for Mac.

Good to know

Dates you type yourself (deliveries, expenses) don't change when you change the year.
Meal costs use the prices you enter, so they are estimates.
Renaming a category, meal or person turns old rows red until you pick the new name; the spending still stays in the total.
The example data uses US spelling and pounds (lb); kg, g and l are in the drop-down.

Questions

Can I reuse it next year?

Yes. Change the year in Settings and the calendar and meal dates update, including Black Friday. Dates you typed yourself stay as entered.

How is the quantity to buy worked out?

Quantity per person × guests. Pieces, bottles and packs are rounded up to whole units (2.64 bottles becomes 3); weights and volumes keep their decimals.

Which currency does it use?

None in particular: amounts have no symbol, so it works with $, £, € or any other.

Will anything be posted to me?

No. It's a digital file you download from Etsy straight after purchase.